It is becoming increasingly time consuming and expensive to repair even minor damage to the exterior body of automotive vehicles. As a result, manufacturers are interested in protecting automotive vehicles from all types of such damage prior to the delivery of the vehicle to the final customer. This concerns especially minor dents or scratches to the edges of vehicle doors, hoods, or trunks, which can occur during shipment of the vehicles.
The manufactures equip the doors or bumpers of the vehicle with a horizontal trim made of resilient material that is permanently fixed along the side of the doors of the vehicles so as to avoid dents and scratches when the doors are opened and bumped against a neighboring vehicle or another obstacle. These trims are however rather fragile and customers do not accept any damages in the paint when buying a new car.
It is therefore necessary for the manufactures to protect the body panels of the cars during the shipment form the factory to the customers. During this shipment f.ex. by truck, train or ship the cars are parked very close to one another. On the trucks or the trains, the space between the cars and the body of the truck or the train is very narrow so that dents or scratches in the doors of the vehicle during shipment are quite frequent.
A variety of devices have been developed for permanent installation on the edge of vehicle doors or the like. These devices generally comprise a deformable metal carrier coated with rubber or plastic materials as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,581,807. These devices generally have a U-shaped cross section for receiving the edge of the vehicle door. The metal carrier is generally deformed so that the device resiliently grips the edge of the vehicle door.
These prior art devices are generally designed with metal carriers so that they may be permanently affixed to the edge of the vehicle door. They are designed for permanent installation because they are generally used as decorative trim or for installation of weather stripping around the edge of the vehicle door as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,232,081 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,549. Once installed, these devices are difficult to remove without damaging the edge of the vehicle door. Moreover, when used as decorative trim or for installation of weather stripping, these devices generally must be of sufficient length to cover the entire edge of the vehicle door.
A disadvantage of these edge protectors is the doors of the vehicle have to be opened in order to install the edge protectors.